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It's confirmed - 2012 wettest year ever

by
Craig Lindsay - Castlegar News

posted Jan 2, 2013 at 1:00 PM— updated Jan 2, 2013 at 2:00 PM

With a total of 1,089mm of combined rain and snow, 2012 is now of record as the wettest year in Castlegar since the Southeast Fire Centre began keeping records 48 years ago. The amount of precipitation turned out to be 45 per cent more than normal. With an average annual temperature of 8.9 degrees, 2012 was slightly milder than the average normal temperature of 8.4 degrees.

December got off to a warm and wet start with a new daily temperature record of 10 degrees set on the first.

A series of Pacific frontal systems embedded in a mild southwesterly flow then produced roughly 85 per cent of the month’s total rainfall within the first four days of the month.

Cooler temperatures favoured snow during the third week of December (15th through 22nd), when a very active pattern delivered most of this month’s snow. A total of 34cm of snow fell on Dec. 19, the most one day snowfall since 1968.

Except for some northwesterly gusts into the 60’s (km/h) during the morning of the 5th, this month was relatively calm in terms of winds, with a monthly average windspeed almost as low as has ever been seen during the month of December.

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